Deceptive Plants Lure Unsuspecting Insects

To promote pollination, certain flowers attract insects by mimicking their sexual partners. In the case of orchids, the flower, by its color, furry body, and smell, mimics the female of a species of wasp.

When the male wasp tries to mate with the fake female, he fails, but the orchid succeeds in getting pollen on the wasp. He flies away, only to repeat the process with another orchid. In the process, the wasp transfers pollen from flower to flower.